Strike Me Down, Zeus

About

Strike Me Down, Zeus refers to a viral video in which a man holds a shovel outside during a lightning storm and challenges Greek God Zeus to hit him with lightning. The video ends with a quick cut, indicating the man is struck by lightning. The video proved popular, spreading on Reddit in subreddits such as /r/PerfectlyCutScreams and /r/YouTubeHaiku, and inspired parody edits.

Origin

On May 11th, 2019, YouTuber Blargenheimer posted a video in which a man holds a shovel outside during a thunderstorm, saying "Strike me down, Zeus! You don't have the balls!" before the video quickly cuts, making it appear as though he was struck by lightning. The video gained over 1.7 million views in 9 months (shown below).

Spread

The video proved popular, getting reposted in various places over the course of the next several months. It was reposted in /r/AbruptChaos^[1] on August 24th, 2019, gaining over 200 points, /r/youtubehaiku^[2] on November 2nd, gaining 600 points, and /r/PerfectlyCutScreams^[3] on November 4th, gaining over 90 points. It was also parodied on YouTube. For example, user ProfaneGunman edited the clip such that it cut to _Fallout_'s opening sequence, gaining over 36,000 views (shown below, left). User Livid Snacks posted an Eric Andre Show edit of the clip, gaining over 13,000 views (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References